Qualla: 1931 Jinan Plane Crash

1931 Jinan Plane Crash: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Xu Zhimo was warned about the weather. The poet -- one of the most celebrated in modern Chinese literature -- had been told that conditions between Nanjing and Beiping were uncertain on November 19, 1931. But Lin Huiyin was giving an architectural lecture in Beiping that day, and Xu was determined to be there. His relationship with Lin, a brilliant architect and writer in her own right, was the most discussed romantic entanglement in Chinese literary circles. So he boarded a Stinson Detroiter mail plane -- originally the private aircraft of General Zhang Xueliang -- and took off from Ming Gugong Airport around 8:00 that morning. He would never arrive.

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1931 Jinan Plane Crash: Into the Fog

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Detroiter, an SM-1F model operated by China Airways Federal under contract with Chunghwa Post, carried two pilots, one passenger, and 500 pounds of mail. Captain Wang Guanyi and First Officer Liang Bitang, both 36 years old and graduates of the Nanyuan Aviation School, were e...

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1931 Jinan Plane Crash: West Mountain

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

After passing the waypoint at Changqing District, Liang turned northwest toward the airport. Seconds later, the aircraft struck the peak of what is now called West Mountain, about six kilometers from Dangjiazhuang Railway Station and at an elevation of 150 meters. The impact shea...

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1931 Jinan Plane Crash: A Piece of Wreckage by Her Bed

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Xu Zhimo's friend Liang Sicheng -- himself one of China's greatest architects, and Lin Huiyin's husband -- had gone to Nanyuan Airport to meet Xu at 3:00 PM. By 4:30, when no plane had arrived, Liang feared the worst and called local police. The literary community in China was de...

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1931 Jinan Plane Crash: What the Mountains Remember

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The exact crash site was disputed for decades. The Republican government erected Xu's tomb on Mount Beida, which they mistakenly identified as the location. In 2013, investigators used archival documents and a modern electronic rangefinder to follow the Jing Pu Railway from Dangj...

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